Vise for holding irregularly shaped objects



Nov. 1, 1949. w. A. RICE 2,485,494

VISE FOR HOLDING IRREGULARLY SHAPED OBJECTS Filed April 17, 1945 2/ /6 ,/2 INVENTOR,

WILLIAM A.R1c; F 5-8- BY Patented Nov. 1, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VISE FOR HOLDING IRREGULARLY SHAPED OBJECTS William A. Rice, Washington, D. C.

Application April 17, 1945, Serial No. 588,845

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to vises of a character which may be incorporated in various machines, such as a drill press, a shaper, a miller and in fact any device where work must be gripped and held firmly against movement.

The invention has for an object a vise which will hold irregularly shaped work over an extended area thereof. The ordinary jaw vise holds work at opposite points if the work is irregular in shape. Such point contact of necessity subjects the work to a concentrated pressure, and if the work is fragile, damages its surface.

The present invention contemplates a vise wherein the jaws are laminated, with each lamination capable of independent longitudinal movement, said laminations being adapted to engage the work and generally conform to its outline, with the result that the work is held over an extended area, firmly and without injury.

Another object is the provision of a vise wherein the jaws are longitudinally adjustable to con-.

form to work contour.

Other objects include a vise which is inexpensive in cost of manufacture and generally superior to vises now known to the inventor.

With the above mentioned and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel and useful provision, formation, construction, association and relative arrangement of parts, members and features, all as shown in certain embodiments in the accompanying drawing, described generally and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation illustrating one adaptation of my invention to a vise structure;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the vise shown in F 1; a

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the jaw elements of the vise;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the jaw member shownin Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a modified form of jaw element;

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the jaw element shown in Fig. 5 and looking in the direction of the arrow 6 in said figure;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the position of the jaw elements when out of work engagement; and

Fig. 8 is a detail of means which may be utilized to cause automatic movement of the jaw elements.

Referring now to the drawings:

The vise shown in Fig. 1 is designated as an entirety as I, and the same includes a fixed or stationary jaw member 2 and a movable jaw member 3, with means 4 for effecting movementbetween the jaw members. The movable jaw member 3 carries a slide bar 5, which passes through an opening 6 in the stationary jaw member for guiding said bar. The means 4 consti-= tutes the usual threaded screw 1 engaging a nut, whereby upon turning handle 8 a work receiving opening is formed between the jaws. As is customary, the stationary jaw member is provided with a base 9, mounted on a swivel plate ill, the swivel plate being attached to a bench or other supporting object, not shown. Both the movable jaw and the stationary jaw members for gripping work such as shown at H include a plurality of elements l2, which may comprise thin plates of the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4. In Figs. 3 and 4 each plate is substantially rectangular in form and provided with a central elongated slot 43. Depending upon the thickness of the plate, the work-engaging transverse edge thereof is sharpened or triangular shaped, as illustrated at 14. Obviously, any other section may be incorporated, such as a plain bevel. Such a construction gives a point contact of the plate element with the work and readily allows a plate to conform to the shape of the work, as hereinafterpointed out. Such elements are stacked one upon the other to any desired height, depending upon the thickness of jaw desired, and likewise depending upon the character of work to be held by the jaw. In other words, it is a feature of the present invention that jaws of variable depth may be utilized by simply adding or subtracting plate elements. The plates l2 are adjustable to conform to work outline, and having selected the required number of plates and thus provided a laminated structure, the said plates of a stack for one jaw are held in working relationship by a clamp member l5. This clamp includes in its simplest embodiment a bolt It, passed through the slots l3, the upper end of which bolt has pinned thereto at l1 a cam headed handle member I8, the cam portion IQ of whicli is adapted to bear against a pressure washer 2U straddling the slot l3 of the uppermost plate l2. The opposite end of the said bolt I6 carries a nut 2!. Both the stationary and movable jaw members as entireties are so constructed and arranged as to permit the end of the bolt I6 carrying the nut 2| to be confined in a recessed portion, as for instance illustrated at 22 and 23 for said jaw members. It is apparent that by removing the nut 21 various heights of stacked 91%?65 may be accommodated. It is the intenq tion of the particular arrangement shown that when the cam headed handle I8 is coaxial with the axis of the bolt l6, relative movement is permitted between the individual plates l2 of a stack, and that when the handle is in the normal position shown in Fig. 1 that the said plates are clamped tightly together to prevent relative movement therebetween.

In Fig. 1 that portion of each jaw member which carries the adjustable jaw plates may be recessed or grooved as shown at 24 and 25, to

thereby have portions which engage the sides of the lowermost plates of a stack and thereby prevent relative lateral movement therebetween. In this manner the remaining plates are held against transverse shifting as the bolt l6 has a diameter closely approximating the width of the slot [3 in the plates l2.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have illustrated the adjustable plates as having plain surfaces, both top and bottom, whereas in Figs. 5 and 6 I have provided the top and bottom surfaces of the adjustable plates with elongated grooves 26. Plates of the type shown in Figs. 5 and 6 will interlock to prevent relative transverse movement therebetween when the clamping bolt is in pressure engagement with said plates. Such a construction, however, does not allow different angularities to be assumed between plates, as is the case for the construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

In Fig. 8 I have shown a simple means whereby the adjustable plates of each jaw may be automatically moved to conform to the contour of the work. In the simplest embodiment, I have provided a block for each jaw member, and in Fig. 8 one of said blocks is illustrated. The block is designated as 21, and is provided with an opening 28, within which are positioned coil springs 29. The outermost end of each plate [2 is received in the opening of the block and engages an end of a spring, which urges its respective plate in one direction. As stated, this is the simplest embodiment of a means for actuating a plate in one direction, and it is evident that other means may be utilized, such as the admission of air or liquid under pressure against the ends of the plates.

The operation, uses and advantages of the invention are as follows:

.Assuming that work of irregular shape, such as shown at H, is to be confined between the adjustable plates of the jaw members, the handle [8 of the stationary jaw is positioned coaxial with its bolt Hi. The work H is then pressed against the ends or the edges H! of said plates, which will induce movement in said plates to conform to the outline of the work. The handle then may be rotated if desired so as to tighten the bolt and nut, followed by moving the handle to the position shown in Fig. 1 to cause the cam head thereof to be in pressure engagement with washer 20, which will hold the stack of plates against movement. The slide bar 5 is moved so as to bring the plates H of the movable jaw member into close proximity with the work, whereupon the handle l8 of the movable jaw is rotated to a coaxial position relative to its bolt l6, and the movable plates brought into engagement with the surface of the work H; whereupon the handle l8 is moved to the position shown in Fig. 1 to clamp the adjustable plates together. The handle 8 may be rotated so as to bring both jaws into tight engagement with the work. It is evident that the work is engaged over an extended area and in this manner damage to the work is prevented. In the ordinary type of vise such an irregular piece would be gripped at two points only, and in so gripping, the work, if of the shape shown in Fig. 1, would tend to rotate between the jaws, regardless of how tightly the work was clamped. The present jaw arrangement of the invention will hold the work securely without undue clamping force being applied to the work surface, or such clamping force as might tend to deform the work or damage the surface.

Initially, the adjustable plates may be brought to the position shown in Fig. '7, wherein it will be observed that the work-engaging edges of each jaw are in juxtaposition. The workman may easily bring the adjustable plates to the position illustrated by pressing on the heel ends of the laminated adjustable plate structure for each jaw. By separating the jaw members by rotating the handle 8, the work may be pressed against the plates of either the movable or fixed jaw members and the plates will thereby adjust themselves to the contour of the work. By increasing the transverse width of the slot l3 of each plate l2 relative to the diameter of bolt l6 passed through said slots, the plates may have both relative transverse movement and rotation, and in this manner the plates of a stack may be positioned at different locations relative to the work, which will assure against any tipping action of the work when it is clamped between the jaw plates. This becomes important when certain operations must be performed on work, the resultant operation on the work requiring great accuracy. Such a construction is of use when the structure is incorporated in a drill press, shaper or miller.

I claim:

1. A vise for holding irregularlyshaped objects, said vise including a pair of confronting laminated jaw members, each jaw member comprising a plurality of plates in stacked relationship, each plate having a beveled transversely extending work engaging end and having alternate ribs and grooves extending longitudinally along top and bottom surfaces to provide an interlock between said plates, and thereby prevent lateral shifting thereof; each plate being longitudinally shiftable to conform to the contour of work positioned between the stacked plates of the jaw members.

2. A vise for holding irregularly shaped objects, said vise including a pair of confronting laminated jaw members, each jaw member comprising a plurality of plates in stacked relationship, each plate having a beveled transversely extending work engaging end and having alternate ribs and grooves extending longitudinally along top and bottom surfaces to provide an interlock between said plates, and thereby prevent lateral shifting thereof; each plate being longitudinally shiftable to conform to the contour of work positioned between the stacked plates of the jaw members; and means for locking the plates of a stack against shifting.

3. A vise for holding irregularly shaped objects, said vise including a pair of confronting laminated jaw members, each jaw member comprising a plurality of plates in stacked relationship, each plate having a beveled transversely extending work engaging end and having alternate ribs and grooves extending longitudinally along top and bottom surfaces to provide an in- REFERENCES CITED 4 The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 626,427 Jones June 6, 1899 801,937 Van Sickel Oct. 17, 1905 Number Number 6 Name Date Perrine Apr. 24, 1923 Harrington Mar. 18, 1930 Bauberger et al Jan. 17, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Austria Apr. 25, 1919 Great Britain June 23, 1920 Switzerland Sept. 16, 1922 France June 10, 1929 Great Britain June 22, 1933 Australia Sept; 1, 1943 

